1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to razor blade dispensers and more particularly to dispensers for bonded razor blade cartridges.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to permanently bond one or more blades having single edges in a disposable cartridge. An example of a twin blade bonded cartridge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,051. An advantage of a blade permanently bonded in a cartridge is that it is possible to optimize the shaving angle defined by the relationship between the cutting edge and the guard surface to minimize the possibility of nicks and cuts to maximize shaving efficiency.
Such bonded razor blade cartridges are usually stored in and dispensed from any of several types of cartridge dispensers, examples of the most common types of which are illustrated in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,051 and additionally in U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,532. The dispensers of those patents provide a series of generally rectangular open-top chambers disposed in a row, most of the chambers each storing a respective one of the bonded razor cartridges. The several open-top chambers or compartments row-aligned in the dispenser have typically been formed and defined by extending a series of parallel spaced partition walls from one side wall of the dispenser to the other to form the compartment end walls. Those dispenser side walls comprise the side wall portions of a normally rectangular peripheral wall upstanding from the base of the dispenser. The outermost compartment end walls are defined by the respective opposite ends of the dispenser peripheral wall. A recess in one side wall portion of each of the respective chambers has permitted ingress and egress of a channel member on a razor handle for coupling and uncoupling connection respectively with the cartridge therein.
One or more retention latches has been provided in each of the cartridge chambers for securely retaining a cartridge therewithin during handling and storage and being sufficiently resilient to permit insertion or removal of the cartridge therefrom when the appropriate inserting or removing forces respectively are applied thereto. The retention latch or latches in each compartment have normally been formed on the partition walls extending across the dispenser, with the oppositely-disposed continuous partition walls defining the opposite ends of the chamber and the retention latches simply retaining the cartridge in the chamber.
While the foregoing dispenser configuration has generally been succesful, the manual loading of cartridges into the dispenser at the time of manufacture, as by forcing them down past the retention latches, has generally required a significant manual force by the person loading them. Moreover, the accumulated tolerances of several overly large cartridges may cause difficulty in loading and unloading the cartridges, particularly where each cartridge is normally in end-to-end engagement with the opposite partition walls defining the end walls of a compartment. Still further, a recent improvement in bonded razor cartridges to include a manually displaceable clean-out mechanism has complicated the housing of such razor cartridges in a conventional dispenser in a conventional manner inasmuch as care should be taken to avoid applying forces to the clean-out mechanism, as from a partition wall, during storage.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved dispenser for bonded razor blade cartridges arrayed in a row therewithin.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a multi-compartment dispenser for bonded razor cartridges in which the adverse effects of cumulative oversize tolerance errors in the cartridges is minimized.